Critical Mass, Panamalleycat IV, Midterms

Yet another interesting weekend of biking... On Saturday I experienced two new forms of cycling in Paris- Critical Mass and the Alleycat race that I previously mentioned. Both turned out to be something of a surprise, in their own regard, but quite enjoyable.

I met up with Annie (of the Paris Rando Vélo ride a few weeks ago) on Saturday afternoon in front of the Hotel de Ville and we rode over to the starting point of the Paris Critical Mass. Cyclists gather at the Place du Chatelet on the first Saturday of every month to demonstrate cyclists rights to the road and solidarity among cyclists, as they do in many cities around the world, but the mass this month was quite a small one. Compared to previous Critical Masses that I have participated in in Minneapolis which have sometimes reached over 300 people, the 30 people we rode with this Saturday was quite a different experience. The riders were just as enthusiastic about showing their support for the presence of bicycles on the road and once during the ride we stopped at an intersection where a cyclist had been killed by a motorist just two weeks previous. We shared a moment of bell-ringing in respect for the fallen cyclist and then continued on our tour around Paris. Many riders carried large flags with the name of the organization who arranges Critical Mass- vélorution- the same organization whose workshop I visited a few weeks ago. I wasn't able to get any good pictures of the event, but I had a very good time riding with fellow commuters and bicycle supporters.

Later that evening I met Annie again and we rode to the start of the Alleycat race- Panamalleycat IV (I still think it should have been called Panamalleyquatre...) It was somewhat difficult to locate the start of the race as it was in the middle of a large roundabout park sort of thing at the end of the Champs Elysées, past the Arc de Triomphe (Porte Maillot). Annie and I rode around in circles for a while trying to find the start and eventually spotted the group of 30 bikes in the middle of the traffic circle. Annie had decided not to race and instead was going to "document" me while I road (and help me with directions) so I registered for 5 euros, received my commemorative spokecard and nervously stood around talking with people for the next hour. I met some nice Dutchmen (with goofy Boston accents, which they claim to have acquired from watching MTV) and did a tour of all of the bikes parked around the garden.

When it was time to depart, the organizers of the race had us separate our bikes (Parisiens on one side of the park, out-of-towners on the other side) and go stand on the far side of the park while they distributed the maps and manifests (Manifest: a list of places you need to visit to complete the race, the clue sheet for the scavenger-hunt style race). When they shouted, "GO!" everyone ran to their bikes and took off in various directions. Annie and I chased after a group of people who looked like they knew where they were going and made it to the first location at the base of the Eiffel Tower along with most of the rest of the racers. From there, Annie and I split off from the group and tried our best to navigate our way around Paris, but we got kind of lost in Montmartre trying to find a clue that wasn't in Montmartre at all, and also lost some time in the Opera district.

One-way streets and lots of traffic proved to be the biggest problem of the race, along with wearing too many layers. I rode my road bike (instead of the tikit that I had ridden during Critical Mass) and was able to keep up with Annie, but I had a hard time riding as fast as some of the other racers. Using some of the techniques that Phillipe has taught me over the past few weeks (controlling my breathing, cornering) I think I did a little better than I may have if I had tried the same event in early September.

When I arrived at the finish, or the place where they handed out the second manifest, I found about 20 people standing around- most of whom had already completed both manifests. I had only completed the first half. The organizer of the event told me that I only had 20 minutes to finish the second half and I was already quite exhausted... I decided not to bother getting any more lost and stayed at the finish line. I was pretty disappointed in myself knowing that I was only able to do half of the race in the same amount of time that some of the messengers who knew Paris were able to do the whole thing, but later I found out that some of the other riders had only completed 3 or 4 stops on the first manifest, whereas I had finished all 5. I suppose it's not too bad for my first Alleycat race.

They gave out prizes for the top three male finishers, the first non-messenger, the first out of towner, the last messenger, and despite the fact that I didn't technically finish the whole course, the first female finisher. They gave me a hat sporting the name of the messenger company that put on the race.

I'm unsure if I'll continue to pursue Alleycat races in the future, but it was really good to be around a youthful crowd of bikers, compared to the PCO gang that I've been spending time with for the past few months. Even if I don't try racing like that again, I'm glad that I have had this opportunity to compare my normal cycling to.

In the academic world, I got an extremely good grade on my Intro to Literature midterm, a fairly good grade on my sociology midterm, and I think I ran into a brick wall on my Architecture of Paris midterm that I took on Monday. I will find out about my Grammar midterm on Thursday, and maybe will see the results of the Architecture on next week. I am busy at the moment preparing a text analysis of a poem for my literature class, and surprisingly enough, the text we're analyzing is a song by Serge Gainsbourg. How appropriate.